The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new draft guidelines for opioid prescribing last week. The guidelines aim to provide recommendations for the prescribing of opioid analgesics for adults in primary care settings. Clinical practices addressed in the guidelines include determining when to start or continue opioids for chronic pain outside of end-of-life care; opioid selection, dosage, duration, follow-up, and discontinuation; and assessing the risk and harms of opioid use. Review the guidelines.

Also of note: tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 24, from 2 to 3 p.m., the CDC is sponsoring a free CME webinar titled, “The Role of Clinicians in Addressing the Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” During this webinar, participants will learn about the drivers of the increases in opioid-related morbidity and mortality and steps clinicians can take to help reverse concerning trends. This webinar is hosted by the CDC Emergency Communication System’s Clinical Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) Call. Registration is not needed. Call in at 888-469-1370. The passcode is 3791890. Join by Webinar. If you have questions or trouble accessing this COCA Call, please e-mail [email protected]. Call materials (slides, audio, and transcript) will be posted to the webpage a few days after the live call.